Female Marine Leads Platoon, Inspires Others
2nd Marine Logistic Group Public Affairs
Story by Gunnery Sgt. Katesha Washington
Date: 03.26.2010
Posted: 03.26.2010 05:24
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - Sgt. Tanell Nedd is one of the busiest non-commissioned officers working in the 2nd Marine Logistics Group these days. While she directs and mentors her platoon of young Marines, she is also preparing them for a grueling future deployment to Afghanistan.
Nedd, a tactical switch operator with Combat Logistics Battalion 2, 2nd MLG, is the platoon sergeant for the S-6 Communications shop. On the surface, she looks like the average hotshot platoon sergeant; slim physical appearance, confident and sharply clad in her camouflage uniform.
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http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=47276
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Services planned for fallen Palm City Marine killed in Afghanistan
Photo by Jose Luis Magana
DOVER - A Marine carry team carries the transfer case containing the remains of Marine Lance Corporal Justin J. Wilson of Palm City, Fla. upon his arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del. on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. The Department of Defense announced the death of Marine Justin J. Wilson who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
Services planned for fallen Palm City Marine
By Will Greenlee
Posted March 26, 2010 at 3:09 p.m
PALM CITY — The body of Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Wilson, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, is expected to be flown into Witham Field on Sunday before services next week, a family member said Friday.
Wilson, 24, joined the Marine Corps in January 2009 and deployed to Afghanistan 10 months later. He died Monday, killed by an IED or improvised explosive device, his father has said.
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Services planned for fallen Palm City Marine
Marine shields team from harm, earns Bronze Star
John Gastaldo
Velzeboer, part of an explosive-ordnance-disposal team, drove a trailer full of grenades away from the fiery aftermath of a bombing.
Marine shields team from harm, earns Bronze Star
By Jeanette Steele, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
After the blast, Staff Sgt. Dustin Velzeboer looked around and realized he was the only person still standing.
His gunnery sergeant lay in pieces, literally, on the ground. Two other members of the bomb unit were dead, and so was the sergeant assigned to them for security.
Velzeboer, a 27-year-old Marine with a baby on the way at home, saw no other choice: He couldn’t move his guys away from the danger. He had to move the danger away from them.
The tall, blond Marine jumped into the team’s truck, which was hooked to a trailer packed with 45 Iraqi rocket-propelled grenades. The grenades were sure to detonate in the fiery aftermath of the roadside bomb blast.
With one hand — his other was shredded by shrapnel — Velzeboer drove the truck away from his men. These thoughts ran through his mind: “Get the rig off the road; we need the road to leave.” “I hope there are no more bombs where I’m driving.” “I need to tell my wife I love her.”
There were no speeches. But afterward, Velzeboer — not much for grandstanding himself — talked about the life of an explosive-ordnance-disposal Marine, one of the most dangerous and in-demand jobs in the military.
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Wounded veterans take case for service dogs to Capitol Hill
For Iraqi war vet Luiz Montalvan, Tuesday can pick up a dropped cane, even sense when he needs his medications. Wounded veterans and their dogs were on Capitol Hill recently hoping to get more support for the service dog program.
Slain Marine from Yorba Linda remembered
Santa Ana Police Sgt. John Centanni, 51, at his home in Yorba Linda, reflects on the death of his son, Rick, a 19-year-old Marine lance corporal killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Slain Marine from Yorba Linda remembered
The death of Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni, 19, killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, stirs reflection at Esperanza High. He is the third from the Anaheim school to die in post-9/11 combat.
By Mike Anton
March 27, 2010
The death of Rick Centanni of Yorba Linda was announced Friday over the intercom at Esperanza High School in Anaheim.
Class of 2008. Member of the football team. Marine lance corporal killed earlier this week by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Just 19.
A secretary put Centanni's yearbook, the one in which his photo shows off his broad shoulders and wide smile, out at the front desk. Students, she knew, were sure to ask to see it.
This isn't the first time this has happened at Esperanza. Or the second. Centanni is the third Esperanza graduate killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2004.
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Slain Marine from Yorba Linda remembered
The Funniest 'Help Wanted' Signs
Most of these are hilarious! If you need to laugh a bit today, click the below link.
The Funniest 'Help Wanted' Signs
Michael Jordan
Oh man, guys, there have been some funny help wanted signs floating around the internet lately. Perhaps you've come across them?
Well, let me remind you of the Urlesque guarantee: we will provide you with the funniest, most comprehensive lists of signs available anywhere on the internet. We have been all over that, what with the hacked stop signs, the "God Hates" signs, the intentionally funny political signs, and even the unintentionally funny political signs.
Now we're bringing you the funniest "Help Wanted" signs on the web. Other sites have lists, but none of them are this comprehensive or completely awesome. After the break, check out all the chuckle-worthy signage.
go here for more
The Funniest Help Wanted Signs
The Funniest 'Help Wanted' Signs
Michael Jordan
Oh man, guys, there have been some funny help wanted signs floating around the internet lately. Perhaps you've come across them?
Well, let me remind you of the Urlesque guarantee: we will provide you with the funniest, most comprehensive lists of signs available anywhere on the internet. We have been all over that, what with the hacked stop signs, the "God Hates" signs, the intentionally funny political signs, and even the unintentionally funny political signs.
Now we're bringing you the funniest "Help Wanted" signs on the web. Other sites have lists, but none of them are this comprehensive or completely awesome. After the break, check out all the chuckle-worthy signage.
go here for more
The Funniest Help Wanted Signs
Filner urges quick approval of some VA claims
More and more claims will be made from veterans seeking treatment and compensation just as more and more claims wait to be honored. While they wait, there is not just the financial suffering they are subjected to as bills cannot be paid due to their wounds, there is the emotional harm inflicted that should matter to all of us.
Think of it this way. They risked their lives serving this country. Then because of that service, they were wounded yet when they come home, they are left to fend for themselves. They file claims to have their wounds taken care of and compensated for the income they can no longer work for. Delays in honoring those claims are dishonoring their service.
Just as advocates are reaching the Vietnam veterans so they seek help for PTSD because they are finally understanding what it is, now we have a flood expected from Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Does it end there? No because we also have two active military campaigns producing more wounded veterans every day. We also have Gulf War veterans still trying to be compensated for what the Gulf War did to them the VA still doesn't quite understand.
These men and women are suffering for having served. They should not have to see their lives as veterans subjected to delays in honoring their service wounds.
Considering the service organizations like the DAV verify claims made before they even begin to start the process with the VA, most of the evidence is already gathered together. Very few claims presented are fraudulent. Doing this is the right thing to do for the sake of the veterans. After getting them through the process and honoring their claims, there would be more time for them to review claims for fraud. Then, they would be treated as any other criminal charged with VA fraud and would have to pay the money back, plus see some jail time. We need to stop treating them all as if they are already guilty.
Think of it this way. They risked their lives serving this country. Then because of that service, they were wounded yet when they come home, they are left to fend for themselves. They file claims to have their wounds taken care of and compensated for the income they can no longer work for. Delays in honoring those claims are dishonoring their service.
Just as advocates are reaching the Vietnam veterans so they seek help for PTSD because they are finally understanding what it is, now we have a flood expected from Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. Does it end there? No because we also have two active military campaigns producing more wounded veterans every day. We also have Gulf War veterans still trying to be compensated for what the Gulf War did to them the VA still doesn't quite understand.
These men and women are suffering for having served. They should not have to see their lives as veterans subjected to delays in honoring their service wounds.
“If there is a 1 percent error, and there could be, so what? You would be helping the 99 percent of veterans who are honest,” Filner said.
Considering the service organizations like the DAV verify claims made before they even begin to start the process with the VA, most of the evidence is already gathered together. Very few claims presented are fraudulent. Doing this is the right thing to do for the sake of the veterans. After getting them through the process and honoring their claims, there would be more time for them to review claims for fraud. Then, they would be treated as any other criminal charged with VA fraud and would have to pay the money back, plus see some jail time. We need to stop treating them all as if they are already guilty.
Filner urges quick approval of some VA claims
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 16:59:14 EDT
The Veterans Affairs Department’s large and stubborn backlog of benefits claims could be reduced almost overnight if VA automatically approved any claims prepared with the help of a certified veterans service officer from a veterans organization or a state or local government veterans office, says the chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
The idea, floated March 26 by Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, is not new — and is not endorsed by all veterans groups.
Filner has been talking for several years about the idea of VA accepting some claims without a long review process and then doing spot-checks to look for cheaters, which he has described as similar to the way tax return audits are handled by the International Revenue Service.
His current initiative is somewhat different in that he is now talking only about automatic payment of claims that are prepared by people who have undergone VA training so they have some expertise in the requirements for a valid claim.
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Filner urges quick approval of some VA claims
Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds
Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 17:37:43 EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The families of three private security contractors who were kidnapped, held for ransom and beheaded in Iraq are suing the State Department over their deaths.
Joshua Munns, John Cote and John Young were working for Crescent Security Group in November 2006 when they and two other co-workers were ambushed and abducted while guarding a military convoy near the southern Iraq city of Safwan.
The complaint, which filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, seeks punitive damages and challenges the constitutionality of the U.S. government’s practice of using private military contractors in war but not supporting them when they are injured, killed or kidnapped.
“The primary goal is to peel back the lid on this black box .... to ask the hard question about what this ‘War on Terror’ is about,” Bill Palmer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told The Associated Press.
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Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 17:37:43 EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The families of three private security contractors who were kidnapped, held for ransom and beheaded in Iraq are suing the State Department over their deaths.
Joshua Munns, John Cote and John Young were working for Crescent Security Group in November 2006 when they and two other co-workers were ambushed and abducted while guarding a military convoy near the southern Iraq city of Safwan.
The complaint, which filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, seeks punitive damages and challenges the constitutionality of the U.S. government’s practice of using private military contractors in war but not supporting them when they are injured, killed or kidnapped.
“The primary goal is to peel back the lid on this black box .... to ask the hard question about what this ‘War on Terror’ is about,” Bill Palmer, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told The Associated Press.
read more here
Families of contractors killed in Iraq sue feds
VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform
VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 15:12:28 EDT
The commander of the nation’s largest organization for combat veterans has issued an unusual apology for stating that President Obama’s national health care reform initiative is “betraying” veterans.
Thomas Tradewell Sr., national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, issued a written apology for his earlier criticism of Obama and Democratic leaders for failing to include language in the final health care reform bill that specifically exempts the veterans health care system from its effects.
Just as the House of Representatives was about to vote on the final national health care reform package March 21, Tradewell issued a statement that read: “The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America’s veterans, and and what makes matters worse is the leadership and the president knows the bill is flawed, yet they are pushing for passage today like it’s a do-or-die situation.”
In a March 25 statement, Tradewell, a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, said he “apologized for using too harsh of a word. But I did not apologize for our strong advocacy on the issue.”
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VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 26, 2010 15:12:28 EDT
The commander of the nation’s largest organization for combat veterans has issued an unusual apology for stating that President Obama’s national health care reform initiative is “betraying” veterans.
Thomas Tradewell Sr., national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, issued a written apology for his earlier criticism of Obama and Democratic leaders for failing to include language in the final health care reform bill that specifically exempts the veterans health care system from its effects.
Just as the House of Representatives was about to vote on the final national health care reform package March 21, Tradewell issued a statement that read: “The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America’s veterans, and and what makes matters worse is the leadership and the president knows the bill is flawed, yet they are pushing for passage today like it’s a do-or-die situation.”
In a March 25 statement, Tradewell, a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, said he “apologized for using too harsh of a word. But I did not apologize for our strong advocacy on the issue.”
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VFW apologizes for barb on health care reform
Seven years after teen taken to Walter Reed, she's still there
Kyrgyz woman longs for a home of her own, outside the walls of Walter Reed
By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 26, 2010; 7:42 PM
Lyudmila Sukhanov has spent the past seven years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as a patient and a prisoner of sorts
By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 26, 2010; 7:42 PM
Lyudmila Sukhanov has spent the past seven years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as a patient and a prisoner of sorts
But with Kyrgyz cooperation vital to the United States, saving Lyuda, as she came to be known, was not only humane but also strategic, a goodwill gesture directed at a vital but skittish ally. The request to medevac her received the blessing of the commander of U.S. forces in the region, Gen. Tommy Franks, and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. In early 2003, a C-17 military transport plane braved dangerous conditions to airlift Sukhanov first to Germany and then to Washington.
Seven years of Walter Reed
Lyudmila Sukhanov, 26, has spent the past seven years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as a patient. She has had 18 major surgeries and nearly died several times after a series of botched intestinal operations in her country. In early 2003, U.S military officials arranged for Sukhanov to be treated by doctors in Germany and then at Walter Reed.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Plans unveiled for Eisenhower memorial in Washington
Plans unveiled for Eisenhower memorial in Washington
He was a two-term president and World War II commander who has buildings, schools, an aircraft carrier, a highway tunnel and even a mountain named after him. Now, President Dwight David Eisenhower, or Ike, will have what only six other occupants of the Oval Office seem to share: A national memorial in the nation's capital.
Unlike the well-known presidential memorials for Washington and Lincoln set amid green, open spaces, the Eisenhower design would be nestled among federal agencies that all came into being during his presidency: the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services — which originally were combined as Health, Education and Welfare — the federal Aviation Administration, and the Voice of America.
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Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify
Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify?
By Jim Stratton ORLANDO SENTINEL
11:53 p.m. EST, March 25, 2010
At first, Bonnie Lewis thought her boss was joking.
He had told her that the Longwood call center where she worked was closing. But he was offering Lewis a sales job, one that meant driving around Central Florida.
"I have cataracts so bad I can't see," thought Lewis, 59. "I have no depth perception. I don't have a car."
So she declined the offer and applied for unemployment. After one check, the money stopped because her employer told the state that she had quit, making her ineligible for benefits.
"She didn't quit," says Sally McArthur, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Orlando who got Lewis' benefits restored. "They eliminated her job and offered her something she couldn't possibly do. … They were looking for reasons to turn her down."
The state said it cannot readily determine whether the rate of initial denials is rising, but several lawyers who handle such cases say they have seen similar instances in which the state or employers appear to be stepping up efforts to disqualify out-of-work Floridians.
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Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify
By Jim Stratton ORLANDO SENTINEL
11:53 p.m. EST, March 25, 2010
At first, Bonnie Lewis thought her boss was joking.
He had told her that the Longwood call center where she worked was closing. But he was offering Lewis a sales job, one that meant driving around Central Florida.
"I have cataracts so bad I can't see," thought Lewis, 59. "I have no depth perception. I don't have a car."
So she declined the offer and applied for unemployment. After one check, the money stopped because her employer told the state that she had quit, making her ineligible for benefits.
"She didn't quit," says Sally McArthur, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of Orlando who got Lewis' benefits restored. "They eliminated her job and offered her something she couldn't possibly do. … They were looking for reasons to turn her down."
The state said it cannot readily determine whether the rate of initial denials is rising, but several lawyers who handle such cases say they have seen similar instances in which the state or employers appear to be stepping up efforts to disqualify out-of-work Floridians.
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Is state denying benefits to jobless who qualify
Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement
Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement
By Jan Hefler
Inquirer Staff Writer
WASHINGTON TWP., NJ - A 16-year-old Atlantic County boy arrested after the racially tinged announcement at the Turnersville Wal-Mart this month did the same thing Dec. 28, police reported yesterday.
The youth, whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile, is now charged with two counts each of harassment and bias intimidation, Washington Township police said.
He is accused of announcing over a Wal-Mart telephone March 14 that "all the black people" should leave the store, on Route 42. Police arrested him after examining surveillance cameras and social Web sites such as Facebook and YouTube.
Wal-Mart representatives have apologized and secured their public address system to prevent future problems.
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Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement
linked from CNN
By Jan Hefler
Inquirer Staff Writer
WASHINGTON TWP., NJ - A 16-year-old Atlantic County boy arrested after the racially tinged announcement at the Turnersville Wal-Mart this month did the same thing Dec. 28, police reported yesterday.
The youth, whose name has not been released because he is a juvenile, is now charged with two counts each of harassment and bias intimidation, Washington Township police said.
He is accused of announcing over a Wal-Mart telephone March 14 that "all the black people" should leave the store, on Route 42. Police arrested him after examining surveillance cameras and social Web sites such as Facebook and YouTube.
Wal-Mart representatives have apologized and secured their public address system to prevent future problems.
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Teen charged with 2d Wal-Mart announcement
linked from CNN
And Now Veterans: 'We Owe Them'
And Now Veterans: 'We Owe Them'
BY JORDAN SMITH
Travis County is embarking on a new project that will establish, later this spring, the courthouse's newest addition: veterans' diversion court. The impetus for the court came nearly three years ago, from Precinct 4 Constable Maria Canchola, who knows well the reintegration difficulties faced by many vets. Her uncle and cousin came back from war changed men, troubled by "shell shock" they medicated with alcohol. And for 26 years, she has helped her partner – a "stoic veteran" – a former Marine who served as a reconnaissance sniper in Vietnam. He suffered for nearly 30 years before finally seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, which he never connected to his drinking and which invariably led to run-ins with the law and more than one night in jail.
read more here
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A985573
BY JORDAN SMITH
Travis County is embarking on a new project that will establish, later this spring, the courthouse's newest addition: veterans' diversion court. The impetus for the court came nearly three years ago, from Precinct 4 Constable Maria Canchola, who knows well the reintegration difficulties faced by many vets. Her uncle and cousin came back from war changed men, troubled by "shell shock" they medicated with alcohol. And for 26 years, she has helped her partner – a "stoic veteran" – a former Marine who served as a reconnaissance sniper in Vietnam. He suffered for nearly 30 years before finally seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, which he never connected to his drinking and which invariably led to run-ins with the law and more than one night in jail.
read more here
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A985573
Deceased Vietnam Veteran CIA Agent Finally Recognized
Deceased Veteran Finally Recognized for Vietnam Service
The Salem News; March 15, 2010
'He gave a lot for his country' Deceased veteran finally recognized for Vietnam service By Cate Lecuyerstaff writer
DANVERS — Robert Krisko is not one of the 58,261 names engraved on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Peabody man was part of the Airborne Infantry, and one of the original Green Berets. But when he died in Vietnam in 1967 — at 34 years old — he was working deep undercover for the CIA.
Since he wasn't in the service at the time, his name didn't make the cut when the memorial went up in 1982.
"Every time I'd go there, it just kind of irked me," said his son, Hugh Krisko. "I saw all these names, and my dad's was not on the wall. I just thought it wasn't right."
His widow, Claudette, tried 14 years ago to get him recognized, but had no luck.
"About two months ago, I said I'm going to try this again," she said. "I've got nothing to lose."
She sent out letters, including one to Sen. John Kerry's office, which notified her about "In Memory Day."
"The In Memory program was created to pay credit to people who died as part of the Vietnam War," said Lisa Gough, communications director for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. "It honors those service members whose deaths don't fit the guidelines (to be on the monument)."
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link sent from Shelia at AgentOrgangeQuiltoftears.org
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